about a year ago the company BeReal reached out to me about advertising on my substack and said verbatim in their request “of course, we want the ad to look as native as possible, don't worry ;)”. with the winky face!!! so insane and insulting lol. I think brands are taking advantage of the fact that advertising is so new on substack the norms (and maybe laws?) aren’t as locked-in about ad disclosure. have had my eyes peeled for covert ads ever since